Smarter Oral Care

Tag Archives: tongue thrusting

Tongue thrust (also called reverse swallow or immature swallow) is the common name of orofacial muscular imbalance, a human behavioral pattern in which the tongue protrudes through the anterior incisors during swallowing, speech, and while the tongue is at rest. Nearly all young children exhibit a swallowing pattern involving tongue protrusion, but by the age of six most have switched to a normal swallowing pattern. People who tongue thrust do it naturally and are usually unaware of the behavior. Continue reading →

Oral habits in children are a major concern for the dentists and parents. A baby’s mouth acts as a primary device for exploring the environment and his or her lips and tongues are stimulated by instinctive sucking. By random movements, babies discover their hands and toes and use these to continue the stimulation of their mouth and related structures. Normal habits grow out of these in the early developmental stages. However, some babies do not. They continued to retain these habits until they are toddlers and it created further dental problems.

Patient is exhibiting signs and symptoms of orofacial dyskinesia after being on a long term drug treatment of neuroleptic drugs

What is Orofacial Dyskinesia

Orofacial Dsykinesia was first described in 1957 and the name was coined in 1964. Prior to this because of the prominence of symptoms around the mouth, it was given the name “bucco linguo masticatory syndrome“, meaning “cheek tongue chewing” syndrome. It was most described in patients with schizophrenia.

Orofacial dyskinesia refers to a wide variety of involuntary, repetitive, persistent, stereotyped movements caused by the use of neuroleptic which are drugs that block dopamine receptors. Dopamine receptors are found in our skin and they control movements by receiving electrical impulses.